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Letter to the Editor: Politics should not enter into where charity events are held

Seeing the list of the charities that hastily moved from The Mar-a-Lago Club to other venues, most popularly The Breakers, caused me to wonder about the reasons why.

Consider the Palm Beach Zoo. Single tickets are as pricey as any on the island. Yet, the board claimed to have succumbed to pressure from social media. How many of those who will attend give a fig about the opinions on the Net? And who knows how legitimate they are or from where they are spawned? What is left but politics.

I don’t know the political persuasion of the owners of The Breakers, or its administration, and I don’t care. It is irrelevant. I do know that of President Donald Trump and, in this issue, I don’t care. It is irrelevant.

If the charity truly matters, nothing else does. I say to all of you quivering charity boards, leave your politics in the street, where it belongs. Resist that case of the vapors. Both The Breakers and Mar-a-Lago are superb venues but you chose the latter for a reason. Was it the politics, which haven’t changed between then and now? I doubt it. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that many of your board members were also members of the club and friends of then-Mr. Trump. It is private, which gives additional cachet because there is no public access. This town dotes on exclusivity. The Breakers is a wonderful, though public facility. For some, that makes a difference. So President Trump’s organization owns Mar-a-Lago. So what? Everyone gave him the highest praise (well-deserved) for his restoration of the estate. It should be enjoyed for what it is … a glorious artifact of America’s past.

I think those who so precipitately switched venues will come to regret it.

DAVID G. KAMM

Palm Beach

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